A cruise ship off Cape Verde has six suspected hantavirus cases, including three deaths, after departing Argentina. The virus spreads through rodent droppings and has a mortality rate up to 50%, causing lung and kidney failure. Dr. Céline Gounder says it won't become a pandemic like COVID because it requires prolonged close contact.
A suspected hantavirus outbreak on a cruise ship in the Atlantic Ocean has killed 3 people. At least another 3 have been sickened. The ship left Argentina 3 weeks ago and is now anchored off Cape Verde in Africa. CBS News correspondent Tom Hanson has more.
Hey there. Yeah, well, this is a scary and somewhat mysterious situation happening on board the MV Hondius, which started its trip all the way back in Argentina. Now it is off the coast of Cape Verde in West Africa with its 150 passengers basically left to guess when they will get off this ship. And this all stems around an outbreak or a suspected outbreak of the hantavirus. I want to give you guys a timeline of exactly what we know so far. On April 11th, a passenger died on board. April 27th, the wife of that passenger became unwell during the return journey and she later died. April 27th as well, another passenger became seriously ill, and on May 2nd, another passenger on board died. There are also 2 cases of crew members who are unwell who are currently on board the ship. So that brings us up to 6 cases. The WHO coming out and confirming through lab results that one of those cases— a person who's still alive, we're told— actually has tested positive for the hantavirus. So what is the hantavirus? Well, it's an incredibly deadly disease with a mortality rate of up, up to 50%. So something that if you contract it, your odds are basically the flip of a coin whether or not you're going to survive. It can lead to heart failure, lung failure, and a slew of other health-related issues. Now, people who are still on board this ship are understandably very concerned, very eager to get off. No idea when they are going to be let off the ship. The ship has come out and said that they are exploring the possibility of disembarking on other Canary Islands where there's more medical resources than in Cape Verde. And so that's something that people understandably are going to be watching very closely. But right now they are stuck on board this ship. They are in quarantine, not allowed to move around, and understandably very terrified. Back to you.
All right, Tom Hanson, thank you. So for more, let's bring in CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Céline Gounder. She's also editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News. So, Doctor, remind us what Hantavirus is and why it can be dangerous. So people usually get hantavirus from rodents, as we heard, uh, if they're cleaning up maybe rat droppings, mouse droppings in the garage or the basement. Uh, by doing so, you might be sweeping, vacuuming, you kick that up and aerosolize it into the air, and that's how you end up breathing it in. Uh, this is not usually something that is transmitted person to person, although this particular outbreak, we are concerned because the one situation in which there has been person-to-person transmission of hantavirus involves a form of, uh, hantavirus, the Andes virus, that is transmitted in Argentina and Chile. And remember, this ship— Okay. —was coming from Argentina. So one theory is that this just was being transmitted by rodents and their droppings or, or aerosolized urine, but another possibility is also person-to-person transmission. What are the symptoms? So as Tom was describing, so people can develop lung failure, heart failure, kidney failure. It's very severe viral pneumonia is very often how this manifests. So people are watching, they might have a cruise coming up, and we live in a city where there are mice and rats everywhere. Are people who want to go on a cruise, or you and I, at risk for exposure to hantavirus? Well, I want to emphasize, first of all, this is not going to be the next pandemic. I know a lot of people are still traumatized from the experience we went through with COVID Uh, even if it is about the airborne form of this, the form that's transmitted person to person. It's not airborne in the way that COVID is. It really does require very prolonged, close contact with somebody else. We, we do recommend that people, if you are gonna be cleaning up rat droppings or other kinds of things like that, that you use gloves, that you use a respirator, that you use watered-down bleach so that you're not kicking it up into the air. But this is a geographically localized kind of infection in the United States. We do see hantavirus, fewer than 900 cases in the past 30 years, and largely localized in the Four Corners area. Anything else you think we should take away from this? Just be careful, you know, when you're dealing with any kind of wild animal bodily fluids, wastes in general. I think that's a good piece of advice. But do I think we're going to have a hantavirus outbreak here in New York City? Despite all the rats, no. Okay, good reality check, Dr. Céline Gounder. Thank you.
